


The four corners of the world

by PersianWitch



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: "What If", Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Issues, Friendship/Love, Gen, Growing Up, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Magicians, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Young Characters, written pre-release
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-15 10:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7218973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersianWitch/pseuds/PersianWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you even wondered what'd happen if Ignis was more stiff and ettiquette-driven? If Gladio was too self-confident for his own good? What if Prompto wasn't always a smiling ball of sunshine, but a normal teenager, full of complexes?<br/>What if Noctis was so sick that his life would be endangered?<br/>I'll be adding tags as the story progresses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fighting

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This work came to my mind and absolutely refused to let go, so I started to put it on paper. I imagine it some time ago, before several of the official announcements, so some detail may not match - especially the ages of the characters.  
> Here, in this story Noctis is 17, Prompto 16, Ignis 21, Gladio 21!  
> have fun reading ~!

Prologue:

_The hit sent his way was so strong that Noctis thought he had blacked out for a moment._

“ _I'm afraid that's it, East. Unfortunately.” South said._

_Bright eyes of the Witch of the East observed Noctis without interest, as he struggled helplessly to stay awake. Black dots littering his vision obstructed shapes and colors, making it nearly impossible to make out what was going on and that ringing in his ears..._

_The Witch of the South smiled. “You'll die, East. Here and now.”_

_The Witch of the East didn't answer right away. Standing still, illuminated only by eternally moving curse circles, she bore her motionless stare into Noctis, waiting. As he sighed with pain, his body sagging, signalling a consciousness that had been lost, East turned to the other Witches._

“ _Yes.” she said and her voice was calm. “But I will not die alone.”_

 

Chapter 1:

_Three months earlier_

It really sounded like a good idea at that time.

Of course, they should have known not to give in to Prompto's stupid plans, but a bunch of wolf pups seemed like a no-challenge at all, especially to bored teenagers. However as they just discovered, even if humans made discusable parents, the animals cetrainly were properly protective. So when adult wolves jumped out of their hiding place in nearby bushes, situation quickly changed from amusing to terrifyingly life-threatening.

“Noct!”

The prince cringed. Tightening his sweaty grip on a dagger's handle, he slowly backed out into relatively safe spot behind Gladio's back.

“Stay back, your highness!” Ignis called from not so far away, where together with Prompto he was being cornered by a pack of four really big wolves. One of them growled hoarsely, circling around guarded humans. Bigger than the rest, it must have been the pack leader, which made the situation only worse. Ignis felt his muscles stiffen from effort not to do any sudden movement. From what he remebered, the wolves were aggressive when provoked and even though they had provoked them alright, if only they could make their way out of this woodlet...

The pack leader deprived him of his choices. As Ignis wrecked his mind to find a solution to this dangerous situation, the animal scanned the surrrounding.

“You think it's gonna... whoa! No!”

Prompto didn't finish, because when three wolves jumped on them together, the pack leader leapt away, with planned movement path landing on Gladio's back. But instead of sinking its teeth in muscular bodyguard's back, the wolf swiftly turned to the one hiding back.

“Noct! Run!” Gladio roared, before a heavy paw grounded his face into grass.

“NO! Stay where you are!” Ignis slashed a wolf's muzzle, trying not to turn his back to the other one. To his right, Prompto wrestled with another animal which bit his sword and refused to let go.

Noctis didn't hear them. Hypnotized by two unmoving, deadly calm yellow eyes, he didn't know what to do. Running meant turning away from the wolf and getting attacked; standing in place also meant an attack, this time received with full attention what made it even more terrifying.

The wolf pounced on the boy frozen in fear. With its jaws opened wide, the animal aimed to bite Noctis's head off in one quick snap, but when its teeth clacked on nothing, it stopped in confusion. Blue lights danced in front of it and through them, the wolf saw his prey crawling backwards on all fours some distance away. The boy had been hurt, that much was obvious from blood flowing freely down him arm and marking his escape path.

The pack leader growled again, preparing for another jump. It could hear its packmates swarming on fallen Gladio, another two taking care of screaming Prompto, while the beta took on Ignis's daggers with quite big success. The pack was about to have a really great feast tonight, as the three men were rather big prey. And even if this little boy was thin and unappealing as a meal, the leader still chose to kill him first. Being the weakest, he still radiated something unnamed, what made the wolf stiffen in a non-explained uneasiness, so the best option was to get rid of the nuisance right then and there. It opened its terrifying jaws again and howled, listening to the kid's scared squeak.

That was when a flour bomb hit it right into its eyes.

/

One way or another, it seemed that his magic kicked in this time, as he ported out of the wolf's way. Not so far, though. When magical blue lights finished blinding him and Noctis could feel his body again after appearing back, he yelled in pain. Apparently, his magic worked unevenly, because the wolf managed to scratch his arm and forearm with its teeth, as it was now bleeding quite badly.

Noctis took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Along with relief of being alive came adrenaline from near death experience. Not to mention that the wolf was still close and coming for another attack!

At first, Noctis tried to crawl back, but his injured arm gave out the moment he tried to put his weight on it and he fell to the ground. It hurt, it hurt so much that tears came to his eyes, but he blinked them away, more focused on getting away from immediate danger. He was some distance away from the wolf, but not enough, as it could close the gap in a single jump. While it was preparing to pounce again, Noctis, who suddenly felt as if someone hit him on the head, heard a loud whoosh and a small package hit the wolf in the eye, bursting into a cloud of something white.

Noctis didn't lose time. Supporting on his healthy arm, he jumped to his feet and made a break for it. Or would have, as the moment he straightened, a vertigo overcame his scared mind and he stumbled. Sliding down onto grass, Noctis tried to look around, find his friends and help them or call for help, but something like a thick red curtain covered his sight, along with awful ringing in his ears. He could hear alright, but all sounds were distorted and became unrecognizable. Noctis could only guess that a low whizz sound was wolf's growl, while soft booming must have been the packets with white powder hitting the animal.

Losing feeling in his limbs, Noctis would have fallen limply face first into grass, if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught his shivering body.

“Hang in there, son.” came a comically deformed voice somewhere from above his head.

“Wah, they are coming!”

“Your highness!”

“Noct..!”

“We are here, Miss Lucia..!”

The arms holding him positioned his body as if he was a mere child's doll. The person who rescued him (a woman? A man?) laid him on the ground, because he could feel a touch of grass on his cheek. Through loud commotion surrounding his battered head, Noctis heard Ignis clearly, Gladio partially and that high scream must have been Prompto's. Voices of his friends awoke something in him and he tried to move.

“Stay down, lad.”

A hand, small but really forceful pushed him back down to prevent him from any unnecessary movements. Along with it came a feeling of tingling itch, one that Noctis associated with a healing potion. But where would it come from? He was sure none of them brought any, so maybe the people that came to their rescue..?

Through disgusting red mist covering his eyes and swirling in his mind, Noctis felt feverish and overwhelmingly thirsty. So much, that it rendered him completely unable to think about anything else. His vision seemed to pulse in the corner of his eyes, making him want, want, want...

Not caring about the healing magic coursing through his body from the stranger's touch, Noctis sprang upwards, displaying an abnormal strength freed himself from the one holding him and attacked that person's throat in desperate attempt to feel their blood on his tongue. He could nearly taste it, a feel of human skin on his lips and teeth, nearly sinking into tender flesh without resistance, but then he received a real blow to his head and the world dissapeared into darkness.

 


	2. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But they had a healer with them and they managed to scare the wolf away, the mayor together with two other guys. But this is not the end!” Gladio exclaimed, seeing Noctis frown.

_As much as he wanted to run away, Noctis found out without surprise that he couldn’t move a finger. Surrounded by sticky darkness, immobilized against his will, but abnormally calm at the same time, he breathed once, or tried to… he couldn’t breathe._

_He couldn’t breathe!_

“Noct! Hey, Noct, quit it, will ya!”

_Noctis could hear someone calling him, familiar voice carrying warmth and worry. But at the same time dark mass holding him changed into stinking red liquid, too thick for water and too thin for blood, pulling him in, holding his hands in place and he was drowning, drowning, drowning…_

“Your highness, your highness!” 

_His lungs burned and Noctis could taste salty tears running down his face, when suddenly something both hot and cold surrounded his throat and blinding light rendered him unable to see anything at all._

“He is waking up! Ignis, come quick, he’s waking up!”

Unexpectedly, all sounds returned to normal. They weren’t splotchy, gurgling or bubbling in his ears anymore, just sounding normally and Noctis nearly cried for real this time, realizing that every terrifying thing he had felt until now was most certainly a dream.

“Your highness, how do you feel? Are you in pain?”

Yes, that was Ignis for sure. Only he would want to immediately make sure that his prince was alive and kicking. Even if he wasn’t, not literarily.

However, any try to answer his advisor left Noctis coughing his lungs out.

“Take it easy, boy.” came a screeching voice from his side and his throat again engulfed in heat and coldness together and the pain lessened enough for him to swallow freely. Through his eyes, blurred with tears of pain, Noctis could see an older woman observing him keenly, bending over Prompto that sat on the chair nearest the bed. The woman’s eyes were scary, yellow and unmoving like those of a wolf…

Wolves!

Noctis coughed again, then tried speaking.

“What… what ha-- ..”

“It’s okay, Noct!” jumping on his chair, Prompto ducked under woman’s arm to get to his friend. “Don’t speak! The healer said that your voice will be out of action for some time!”

“Exactly.” Ignis said from the doorway. From what Noctis could see, many people miled through the house, some talking, some running with errands, some tending to the sick, since he wasn’t the only one person bandaged and lying on the bed in the room. “You need rest, your highness. We just wanted to make sure you are in stable condition.” 

“As you did.” barked the woman with yellow eyes. “Now shoo! Yer disturbing the patients!”

“But madame…”

“Am not yer ma’am, young man, and these people need strict bed rest! off you go, both of you!”

While the woman was forcing Prompto and Ignis away with well-practiced gestures, Noctis sighed. That was true, he felt rather tired. Not exactly terrible, but his arm hurt, his throat felt scratchy and his head fuzzy with the remnants of his feverish dream.

The woman came to him, grumbling under her breath about irresponsible young ones that caused more trouble than they were worth. She adjusted his pillows and sheets, being professionally careful about his hurt arm and told him to sleep in rather stern voice. Being touched and moved around didn’t actually scare Noctis, as he was quite used to it, being the prince of Lucis and all. It also didn’t prevent him from thinking. He was injured, yes, but not severely and he felt he could be up and running the next day, as soon as he got some sleep. He didn’t remember much of the fight with the pack of wolves, but it should have turned out alright. As much as he could see, his two friends were alright, not injured and if it came to Gladio, he was the toughest of them and nothing could have happened to him.

Right…?

/

Next time Noctis woke up, it was Gladio that was sitting by his side, sleeping soundly and even snoring a little through his nose. The prince blinked slowly, clearing his vision, as more and more details came into focus. Now, he could see well enough to notice thick dressing at Gladio’s nape and shoulders. He wondered for a short moment what was it for, when a memory of the wolf, pack leader standing on Gladio’s back, came to him suddenly. As he gasped quietly, Gladio stirred and opened his eyes.

“Morning sleepy head.” he said, yawning himself. 

“Mor.. nin..g..” Noctis managed to get out from his abused throat. 

“Hey, don’t try to say anything yet.” the bodyguard moved anxiously on his chair. “Mrs Spiderwick will bring you the medicine.”

“But.. wha…?”

“What happened, huh? Yeah, I guess you don’t remember much, do ya?”

When Noctis nodded, Gladio turned to him fully, moving his chair with him.

“You know when the pack leader appeared, right?” he asked and when the prince nodded again, cringing and massaging his throat through the dressing, he continued. “basically we were sitting ducks, ‘coz it turned out some more wolves were still hiding in the bushes. The adults, you know, not the pups. So, even if we could do something about the fuckers attacking us, there were still more to go.”

Noctis groaned and Gladio smiled humorlessly. That hadn’t been his best day as the bodyguard.

“But as Prompto and Ignis were fighting three wolves and I managed to clock other two, we noticed that the leader wanted to get to you. I was too far and Iggy couldn’t shake his wolf without leaving Prompto with them. Then, we heard a whistle, some calling and a group of chocobos jumped right in the center of the party.”

Now, Gladio chuckled, as Noctis was giving him the look ‘are you kidding me?’.

“No, seriously! There were some kids riding them and they threw this little thingies at the wolves, that erupted with flour, I think? Well, it was helluva effective, since directly after children came adults with guns and weapons and fire and scared the pack. We were freed, only to see that the leader was still advancing on you, Noct.”

Noctis quirked an eyebrow.

“But they had a healer with them and they managed to scare the wolf away, the mayor together with two other guys. But this is not the end!” Gladio exclaimed, seeing Noctis frown. as the prince pointed at his own throat, he nodded. “yeah, that’s not wolf’s doing. When the healer wanted to examine you, you jumped at her and tried to bite her neck!”.

Noctis grimaced again.

“It was serious.” Gladio said, again becoming calm. “They knocked you out, but you didn’t stop to trash around and try to bite somebody. So before we could stop them, the healer ordered one of the men to strangle you. Damn, that scared me shitless, I tell ya. But somehow, it helped you, Noct.”

Before Noctis could call bullshit on crazy methods like that, the door opened and the wolf eyes lady strode in.

“Your medicine, lad.” she said sternly. Watching as he drank she added “Yer friend said the truth. ‘Vampirism’ is a serious thing to treat. Especially when you guys didn’t have anything to treat it with.” the woman snorted and Gladio sighed tiredly.

“Yeah, yeah, we know that Mrs. Spiderwick. You told us enough times, Ignis was near tears already.” 

Noctis laughed soundlessly, not being able to believe such obvious lie. Gladio winked to him.

“You’re the patient Noct, but you should have heard Mrs. Spiderwick when she got Prom and Iggy in her clutches. They looked worse than me in the end.”

/

“I don’t like it.”

Ignis got into the car with a meaningful force closing the door. As they were told that the prince shouldn’t still be running about, he was positioned on the back seat, leaning halfway on the leather and some on Prompto, who still felt crazy guilty for the whole ordeal. While Noctis really tried to calm him down and limit the damage caused by Prom’s honest tries to make the situation better, after the third time of listening to chaotic apologizes when the other so much as touched him, he resigned.

“What? You didn’t get directions from the mayor?” Gladio asked from the front seat. He tried real hard to ignore Prompto’s squeaking fidgeting, but it was starting to get on his nerves, already wrecked by Mrs. Spiderwick’s rough hospitality. 

“I did.” Ignis was still frowning. “But he gave me a rather peculiar look, when I said we want to meet Witch of the East.”

“Did he?” 

“I didn’t imagine that.” Ignis snarled angrily. Since the unexpected accident with the wolves, he seemed jumpy and constantly irritated. He put the key into ignition and turned it with so much force that the engine whizzed in protest.

“I didn’t say you did” the bodyguard said carefully, seeing that Ignis’ knuckles went white on the steering wheel. When the advisor was like this, much caution was highly recommended.

But the probable argument was cut short with a heavy sigh from the back seat.

“Can we please just go? People are looking at us strangely.”

“Yes, your highness.” this time the ignition answered smoothly and after a few seconds to compose himself and not to set anything on fire, Ignis pulled away from the village road.

 


	3. Remembering

As Gladio suspected, the ride's main theme was “awkward silence”. For some reason furious Ignis, Noctis exhausted from a short walk from hospital to the car, presently sleeping and Prompto, pale from worry and guilt, afraid to move an inch in case it could wake up the prince. Not to mention himself, already healed, but wary and tired. Lovely.

Noct was snoring quietly on the backseat, sprawled uncomfortably across the whole accessible space. His face, usually not very expressive, was contorted in annoyance; the prince's dreams must have been not the most pleasurable ones.

“Tell me,” Gladio whispered cautiously, turning to the driver. “how did we end up here again?”

Ignis growled. As much as the bodyguard was prepared for any fit of bad humour, this one surprised even him. Not that Iggy wasn't usually fuming and being scary, but more often than not it was a little bit more civilized. Gladio blinked slowly, trying to conjure up any move that wouldn't worsen his situation.

“King's orders.” was unexpectedly bitten back to him. Ah yes, the king. Gladio just hoped that the rest of journey would end up uneventful and they would meet the witch, get what they should from her and be on their way back already. Gladio was a city man and countryside made him nervous. Especially such wild and untamed region as the mountainside on the border with Tenebrae. 

That said, he couldn't, of course, oppose the king's orders. He remembered that as he had been called before king Regis several days ago, the man had looked tired and somehow resigned, when he had looked at the son of his own bodyguard.

“ _Gladiolus” king Regis said in a quiet voice and Gladio saluted readily. “What do you think about my son?”_

_Trying very hard not to look at Ignis, standing behind the throne and his father with guarded expression on his face, Gladio asked:_

“ _Sir?”_

“ _He is weak, Gladiolus.” King Regis sighed and squeezed his eyes in an unconscious gesture. “Why is he weak right now?”_

“ _Sir.”_

“ _It may not be the best of times, but Noctis is going on a trip, Gladiolus. You'll be the one accompanying him.”_

_ The bodyguard twitched in surprise, trying his hardest not to show it in front of the king. Everyone in the palace knew that prince Noctis was of brittle health that had worsened even more recently. Saying that it wasn't a good idea to take the prince anywhere away from his room was a serious understatement.  _

“ _Your Highness.” came a nervous voice from behind and Ignis stepped forward, tensing visibly, when the king laid his calm, tired eyes on him. “As the prince's advisor and guardian I really do have to object. It is of utmost importance to let him reat as much as he...”._

“ _Ignis.” the smallest of smiles played on the king's lips. “if you are worried that much, why don't you go too?”_

“ _Your Highness--”_

“ _You'll leave in the morning.” the king continued, turning back to Gladio. “I hope I don't have to make you realize the secrecy of your mission?”_

_ Gladio shook his head, deciding that any answer now would be unnecessary. Especially with Ignis staring daggers in the back of the throne. _

“ _The person I want you to meet may or may not help my son. However, it is essential for them to meet.”_

Even now, the king's words rang unpleasantly in Gladio's ears. 

_ The king didn't say anything more that day, but when they left the royal chambers, Advisor Scentia stopped him and Ignis in the corridor. Without as much as saying anything as well, he handed them thin stacks of materials and maps, majority of which were focusing on Tenebrae and its issues. Gladio didn't see any connection between politics and the prince's health, but he took the papers nonetheless. To his right the look father and son shared wasn't a very friendly one; Gladio still could rememeber a shiver that rattled his spine from electricity of their gazes.  _

_ When the royal advisor walked away and they were finally alone, Ignis relaxed a little, his stiff arms getting hunched in a manner he would have never allowed himself to present in front of an audience. But with Gladio, after all those years of their lives, he felt a little more comfortable. And as it made the bodyguard a little bit proud, it also worried him a lot; Ignis didn't or couldn't find a way to relieve his stress and judging from dark, deep bags under his eyes, Noctis had an attack again during the night.  _

_ This situation couldn't go on for much longer and apparently, the trip with both of them was the solution that the king came up with. What could they do? Fulfillment of the order seemed like an only option available to them, so without further ado, while Gladio was preparing the car, Ignis covered prince's shivering body in a blanket and carried him like a baby into the vehicle.  _

_ / _

“Hey Iggy.” some time passed since they left the village and Gladio decided it was safe to start a conversation now. There was something bothering him. “you read those papers?”

The bodyguard didn't have to specify which ones, as Ignis tensed again and clenched his teeth uncosciously remembering his own father.

“I did. Why?”

“Do they specify anything about why are we actually looking for that witch?”

There was a moment of silence when they passed a road sign and Ignis was counting milestones under his voice. Finally reaching the right one, he turned smoothly, directing the car onto a very badly kept dirt road. 

“No, it didn't. It only stated that we have to find her and bring the prince with us. Why?”

“Exactly. I mean, isn't it strange that the king resigns from all medical help his kid can get, sending him on secret mission with us instead?”

“It's no secret mission, Gladio.” Ignis furrowed his eyebrows, his sight still on the bumpy road. “And it has to be done this way if king Regis decided it. We surely just don't know all the circumstances as his majesty does.”

The car jumped and screeched on stones in the dirt, as it slowly moved forward. As much as Ignis was quite sure this was the proper way to go according to instructions he had got from the mayor, he felt a pang of guilt, hearing that Noctis mumbled something in protest in his deep sleep. He tried to lessen more the physical burden on his prince by driving even slower, keeping his eyes glued to the road in search of any hole or bump that could cause any discomfort when ridden onto that he was scared by Gladio's suddenly drawn in breath. 

In the distance, as if appearing out of nowhere in a split of second, a tall tower stood on a meadow, close to the mountain range in the back. It was white, shining in afternoon sun, emanating something that could for some reason only be classified as “reluctance”. Ignis had to do a double take, when his amazed brain told him he had seen a light halo around the building. But as he looked more carefully at it, there was none, just....

“Whoa! Are we really going there?” Prompto carefully moved the prince off of himself and jumped into the space between front seats. “Are we? It looks crazy!” 

“Calm yourself.” Ignis barked back, without turning around. There was no sign or board with information, but there was no doubt a magical place. It looked fairly normal, but Ignis could spot some imprecisions in the corner of his eye, as if all he could see was a mirage. There was a suggestion of sparkling in the air as they drove through the alley, making stunned Prompto open wide his mouth. Even Gladio, the experianced bodyguard, couldn't contain his amazement at such normal, but at the same time surreal sight that was the tower. 

They were still quite some distance from the building, Ignis was one hundred percent positive about it, but suddenly, the road ended and the car pulled into the backyard, mere meters from an entrance to the tower. 

“How in the world...”

They reached the witch's lair.

 


	4. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everybody looked up, to the stairs, they noticed another person as she was going down. It was a woman with white hair in a stylish bun, in her sixties or older but with features that still made her beautiful even after all this time. She was dressed in black, old-fashioned dress that complimented her straight and tall figure.

A tower.

As much as Ignis knew about architecture, the more he looked at the white, tall building, the more it made him confused. His brain was well aware what a tower was, according to various dictionaries and didn’t question existence of it, but somehow, when he wanted to focus on characteristic details, his eyes failed him. Frowning, Ignis did a double take, as triangular windows seems perfectly circular the second he moved his gaze further. Careful examination resulted in a conclusion that the windows were square, that Ignis’ sight was faulty and unreliable through his glasses and it seemed to actually relax him, until he moved his eyes to the staircase with door that shifted from tall and wide into small and oval.

“Holy cow!” Prompto jumped out of the car, shaking with excitement. “That’s… that’s! Whoa!”

“It does look unusual.” Gladio stated weakly, sounding as confused as Ignis felt. Getting out of his seat, he threw the glance back, but the prince didn’t seem to mind sudden stop in their journey, since his chest was still rising and falling in a steady, if a little unbalanced rhythm. 

As the advisor fixed his own clothing and hair in side mirror, they decided to leave fidgeting Prompto with the prince and first try to talk to the Witch by themselves. Carefully, being ready for the unexpected, they approached the stairs, which lead to the entrance, now in form of a revolving door. However, before any of them could build up enough courage or decisiveness to actually step onto the stone steps, the door shifted into normal looking house-piece and opened. Both men made a step back, unconsciously turning into a defensive position, but the only one that came out was a short woman, with a metal bucket in each hand. The buckets looked full and were apparently heavy, since the woman put them down to wipe off sweat running down her neck. 

Not being able to hear what the woman was saying, as she murmured to herself in rather angry manner, Ignis decided to use a method as obvious as it was effective – he cleared his throat very loudly, still maintaining a strong grip on Gladio’s arm. The bodyguard’s hands glittered with small balls of blue light in anticipation of summoning spell, when the woman turned violently around, surprised by unexpected guests. 

“Huh? What the…”

Ignis stepped forward, elegantly reaching up the stairs in two long strides. Faced now with the woman and her buckets, he couldn’t help, but blink in astonishment. Even despite worn out clothing and leather apron, as well as hair that looked as if someone threw a dust bomb on it, Ignis knew her face.

“It’s—“

“It’s you!” the woman frowned, letting go of the buckets’ hands. With a thud they landed on the ground near her feet, splashing a little of dark liquid and navy blue jelly. “Why are you here? Did something happen?”

“No, there was—“

“Did something happen to the kid? How’s his throat hanging?”

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, as he was immediately interrupted the moment he wanted to explain something, Ignis gestured to Gladio to make him come closer. Trained to protect the prince, the bodyguard had stayed behind, at the bottom of the stairs, even if he had also been dumbfounded by the appearance of the woman. Now, signaled by Ignis, Gladio stepped up, to join the advisor and by sheer presence overcome the woman’s talkative nature.

“Safe and sound ma’am. A little grumpy, but that’s nothing new.” he said, grinning. 

“Glad to hear that.”

“We didn’t expect to meet you here, miss. Do you live here?” Ignis jumped at his chance, as she looked thoughtful and for some reason, irritated. 

“I do. If you didn’t expect me here, why did you come then?

“We were told this would be the residence of the Witch of the East.” Ignis said proudly, in the exchange getting a look that could kill.

“What do you want of her?” came fast and angry reply. Ignis couldn’t understand this sudden change in attitude, however he decided it was best to ignore her tone and stay polite. 

“We—“

“What’s goin’ on?” from behind him, a voice stifled by a yawn sounded tiredly. Turning away from an angry woman, Ignis couldn’t hold back his own irritation. No matter how many times he told them, Prompto and Noctis usually ignored all of his advice and did as they pleased, such as now, coming here, when they had been explicitly told to stay in the relative safety of the car.

Prompto was supporting the prince by holding him by his waist, what made them look as under aged, unlucky drunkards.

“We came to introduce ourselves.” Prompto offered in a tone that clearly signaled either of them wasn’t sorry and Ignis sighed heavily. Looking at them, two black-haired and lanky teenagers he couldn’t help but feel pity, when both of them displayed proud, cool and totally fake attitude. But, that was a privilege of youth and as annoying as it was, it didn’t harm anybody, so…

“But I know you, kid.” the woman said. She sniffed disapprovingly, when Prompto’s eyes went wide.

“Miss Lucia? The heck?!”

“That’s what we wanted to know before you two appeared.” Gladio pointed out, raising his eyebrow and catching the prince’s elbow for safety measures. “Bad timing as usual.”

“Hey!”

“Prince Noctis.” Ignis, as much as he was irritated, decided to fulfill his responsibilities. “this is Miss Lucia, the healer that organized people of Correna to help us with wolves and treated our wounds. She healed your throat.”

“Yo, son.”

Noctis nodded his head lightly, observing short woman with interest. He didn’t remember much from the time he had received his injury, not to mention the time he was lying in bed with dressings all over and hurting, sore throat. Mrs Spiderwick always brought him medicine and even if she said it was prescribed from the healer, Noctis didn’t spare it any thought. Absence of any doctor or healer didn’t surprise him; majority of time he spent sleeping so it was no wonder that he could sleep through any visit, friends or not. 

“You don’t look well honey, you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“See?” Gladio sighed exaggerately. “Grumpy enough.”

“But coming back to the subject…”

Ignis also observed miss Lucia. Making sure that everybody else is engrossed in rather loud, but friendly argument about who was a nuisance and why, he came a little closer to the woman. “Do you know where we can find the Witch?”

“Why do you want to meet her?”

Ignis frowned. He was no longer a sweet gentleman, turning into strict, harsh man.

“This is a matter of utmost importance, I’m afraid. However even if I cannot tell you the details, Miss Lucia, I must assure you it is a matter of a top priority in our country.”

“Which country?”

Ignis twitched in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said, a top priority in which country? Here we are near tenebraen border” Lucia pointed over her shoulder where mountain range of Tenebrae shoot into the sky. “and people are not Lucians or Tenebrians, but something in between, mister advisor. So that’s why I ask: what do you want from our witch?”

Having an angry retort on the tip of his tongue, Ignis forced himself to stay silent. Oh, how much he wanted just to spit on the woman how important their mission was, make her realizes that she was an unimportant pest in the face of the prince and she was clearly obstructing their way to reach the objective, but his ingrained training told him not to. She might have been unimportant alright, but offending her meant looking for someone else to tell them where they could find the witch, for what they simply didn’t have time.

“I am really sorry, but I’m not allowed to say.”

Lucia threw him a look full of despise, looking him up and down as if measuring his height for a coffin.

“There is a woman who lives here and whom people from the village call 'the witch', but I don’t know if she is the one you look for…”

“Brilliant!” Gladio apparently finished pacifying the teens, as they were flattened on the tower’s wall and breathing hard, while the bodyguard was smiling from ear to ear. It was also clear, that he missed previous talk entirely. “Can we see her?”

“I don’t know if you should.” for the first time, miss Lucia seemed unsure of something. “You know, she is an old bat and has her moments, but right now she has bad humour, so maybe you shouldn’t…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Ignis said confidently again. Remembering how tired king Regis Caelum appeared, how much he emphasized that meeting the Witch was essential for healing the prince’s condition, he couldn’t help but straighten and try to look as regal as he could. However, influencing the healer seemed impossible; Lucia’s gaze was calm and unmoving, a little annoyed, but somehow devoid of any emotion, that Ignis felt a shudder ran down his spine totally against his will.

“If you say so.”

This sudden capitulation confused Ignis. But he didn’t have time to react, since Gladio and the boys whooped victoriously and trailed after miss Lucia, who seemed to have completely forgotten about the buckets and directed her steps to the entrance of the tower, now shaped like a wooden, carved Viking door. 

When the last of them stepped over the threshold, the door disappeared with a soft ‘puff!’, only to materialize on the opposite wall, one meter over the floor. 

“Is that normal?” asked Prompto, completely ignoring politeness and good manners that would classify this as an impertinent question. In response, Lucia just shrugged and strode forward, not even caring to see if they followed. 

Behind Ignis’ back, Gladio felt the wall up and down.

“Nothing.” he said, his voice calm, but with a strained, careful note that Ignis connected with potential danger. “Untouched stone. No exit at all now or ever.” 

The room they found themselves in was circular, which could be expected and much bigger, which couldn’t. Surprisingly, it had windows reaching the floor, that gave way for the sunset light to get inside and warm the space which had a lot of furniture and was simply crowded. There were a lot of shelves, all filled with books, herbs, tools and other things Ignis couldn’t recognize at the moment. Also, it could be said that the thing that was the most noticeable in this room, was a wooden spiral staircase, leading to the upper levels of the tower, elaborate and decorative in design.

Lucia led Noct and Prompto to a sofa with coffee table near one of the windows, then turned to the other two, gesturing them to come closer. But before Ignis could start feeling offended for this unnecessary familiarity, Gladio tapped his shoulder in support and joined the teenagers. Shrugging, Ignis once again straightened his jacket and stood by Gladio’s side, behind the sofa with Noctis and Prompto.

Lucia looked even more dissatisfied than she was five minutes ago. But on the other hand, Ignis still had an impression that she was somehow lying to them, as her brows were furred, but her eyes were without any emotion inside, creating a disturbing opposition in her expression. 

“I thought about it, and I think it’s a bad idea.” she said, turning to them after a moment of silent pacing around round, old carpet. “You shouldn’t meet the witch, there is nothing good that you can get anyway. So I’m sorry that you had to go all the way to hear this, but please, leave.”

“We can’t.”

Before Ignis could get through anger stuffing his mouth, Noctis answered the healer in a manner equaling her own in calmness. Advisor knew Noctis was tired and not entirely healed yet; that he himself, even if not expressing it, hoped the witch would give him if not a complete health, then at least help him go back to normal. As he was now, always weak and exhausted from the littlest of things, he couldn’t even hope to become acceptable prince of his country. And that was what mattered.

“But you have to.”

“No.”

“Listen, kid –“

“No, miss, you listen.” Ignis stepped forward, burning with honest anger and feeling of responsibility. “What we have to talk about with the witch is –“

“I don’t care!” the healer raised her voice like a teacher used to giving orders. “If I tell you to leave, leave!”

“You –“

“ _What in the world is going on? Who are these people?”_

An elegant, serene voice boomed from above their heads just in time to prevent Ignis from stepping into Lucia’s personal space in futile try to intimidate her. When everybody looked up, to the stairs, they noticed another person as she was going down. It was a woman with white hair in a stylish bun, in her sixties or older but with features that still made her beautiful even after all this time. She was dressed in black, old-fashioned dress that complimented her straight and tall figure. Standing in the middle of the staircase, with a hand on the railing the woman looked down on the guests, her gaze unreadable. As she descended, slowly and full of gentle grace, Lucia seemed to become more and more hunched.

“She doesn't look like she has bad day.” Prompro whispered to the prince with a frown, but squeaked when the white-haired woman whippedher head into his direction in one smooth, amazingly fast motion.

“Who are you?” she asked as her eyes observed all of the men one after another. Lucia opened her mouth, but Ignis was faster.

“Pardon our late introduction, lady witch. We would have introduced ourselves as soon as we'd come here, however we had been delayed by one of your disciples.” venomous glance that he threw in Lucia's direction spoke clearly that Ignis was too well-behaved to say what he thought, but this 'disciple' was only good-manners. “I have a pleasure to introduce to you prince Noctis Lucis Caelu--”

Ignis stopped seeing that the old lady gracefully rised her hand, as if interrupting him. Nodding her white head, she sighed.

“Thank you, young man. But I am not the witch you seek.”

“No?”

“No. However, I do not know how you made such a mistake, being...”

“Shut it, Ellis.” Lucia barked at the woman, but her eyes escaped to the side and she bit her finger in annoyance, looking straight through one of the windows in thought.

“... being in a presence of the real thing.” Ellis continued as if nothing happened, as if she didn't hear any gasps from boys and protests from Ignis. “Gentlemen, let me introduce to you: Lucia Leona Aurrum, the Witch of the East.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, next chapter. What do you say? I'd reeeeeeaaaally like to know what you think? I'd appreciate some comments if anyone liked it or not^^' I'm going to write it no matter what, but some criticism would be welcomed...  
> Also, remember that this happens before the actual game. This is why here Prompto is described as black-haired and in the first chapter he wields a sword.  
> I hoped you had fun~!


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